Cop says Senzo Meyiwa murder accused didn’t ‘mess up his pants’ after assault

The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial has argued one of the accused was assaulted by the police until he “soiled” himself shortly after his arrest.

Sergeant Bathobakae Mogola was cross-examined by the defence in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday.

A trial-within-a-trial is taking place to determine the admissibility of confession statements, pointing out and warning statements by the accused in the main trial.

ALSO READ: ‘Accused didn’t understand his rights’ – Defence argues in Senzo Meyiwa trial

In her evidence-in-chief, Mogola testified about her involvement in the arrest of accused one Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya in connection with drug related charges in Tembisa on 30 May 2020.

The state witness was one of the officers that accompanied Sibiya to his shack, where unlicensed live rounds of ammunition was found resulting in the suspect being immediately charged.

She said Sibiya was allegedly on the verge of confessing to Meyiwa’s murder a few hours after his arrest when she stopped to read the accused his rights.

However, the suspect has claimed he was beaten up by the police when he was arrested.

The Brentwood pants

On Wednesday, Sibiya’s lawyer Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu questioned Mogola on why Sibiya wanted to change his trousers upon his arrest.

Mogola told the court Sibiya wanted to change because his Brentwood was expensive and it had become dirty when he was put on the floor during arrest.

It was previously heard in court the police let the suspect change his Brentwood pants as well as his flip-flop sandals to Carvella shoes.

But Mngomezulu pointed out on Wednesday that Sibiya claims the Carvella shoes were more expensive than the pants.

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The advocate said Sibiya insisted the police took him to his place to change because he had “messed himself up” after being assaulted in Lethabong.

“Even today the trousers were taken by the police and has never been brought back,” the defence lawyer said.

According to Sibiya’s version of events, the three police officers took him to his place of residence to find his uncle because he had the keys to the shack, but when they did not find the relative they took him to Lethabong.

But Mogola explained the reason why they went to Sibiya’s house was to confirm his address and she had no knowledge of such an assault.

“What your client is saying is not the truth. I did not witness accused number one [messing up] his pants,” she responded.

Watch the trial below:

Mogola also denied taking Sibiya to Lethabong, where he claims was assaulted.

The witness further said the suspect was taken to Vosloorus after they left Tembisa.

“At Vosloorus, he was taken to a municipal area and assaulted again so he must tell about the death of Senzo Meyiwa,” Mngomezulu put it to Mogola.

The police investigator revealed that Sibiya made an admission about Meyiwa’s death before they left Tembisa.

“He was never assaulted. Even before we left for Vosloorus the accused was already making admissions to me. He is lying when he says he was assaulted. I even asked him why he was telling me this now and he gave me his reasons. I don’t know if I can relate the reasons that he told me,” she said.

Accused moved to prison amid assault claims

Mngomezulu told Mogola that during Sibiya’s court appearance at Tembisa Magistrate’s Court on 19 June, the suspect asked the presiding officer to be detained at a correctional centre because he had been assaulted at the Silverton Police Station.

The witness did not deny this, saying she inquired with the police officers about the allegations to no avail.

“I know that he appeared but I was not there. All I know is that the accused one was detained at various police stations because at times when you get to the station there is a Covid infection and prisoners were moved to other police stations. So yes, it is possible he was detained at Silverton,” she said.

“When he made this submission in court, I also made a follow up at Silverton Police Station to find out who were the police officers who assaulted him.

READ MORE: ‘He is not telling the truth’: Cop refutes Senzo Meyiwa murder accused’s assault claims

“There was no one who could confirm there was such an incident. He made those claims because somewhere in the investigations he lied so the truth was catching up with him that’s why he was now changing to say he must be detained elsewhere,” Mogola added.

She further said Sibiya was then moved to the Modderbee Correctional Services.

“Because I was the one taking him to court and fetching, he then came back to me and said: ‘can you please take me back to the police holding cells because the food there is not enough; the way it is being served at the police station?’ This proves that accused number one and me, we were decent with each other…. then I told him and now you will go back to court and accuse us of assaulting you again, so I refused,” Mogola continued.

The defence previously argued that Sibiya, who was booked into custody at a police station in Pretoria on the day of his arrest, should have been detained in Tembisa.